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The Girl Next Door
2004
In the tradition of RISKY BUSINESS and AMERICAN PIE comes THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, a sex-soaked teen comedy that actually has a heart. High school graduation is nearing for senior class president Matt Kidman (Emile Hirsch), who has been more concerned with getting into college than partying. But all that changes one night when the .. Read more
| Starring | Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Marquette |
|---|---|
| Director | Luke Greenfield |
| Genres | Comedy, Romance |
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The Girl Next Door
In the tradition of RISKY BUSINESS and AMERICAN PIE comes THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, a sex-soaked teen comedy that actually has a heart. High school graduation is nearing for senior class president Matt Kidman (Emile Hirsch), who has been more concerned with getting into college than partying. But all that changes one night when the gorgeous Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) arrives next door. Engaging, funny, and wild, Danielle is Matt's dream girl come to life, and it appears that she likes him back. But before the two can consummate their relationship, his porn-obsessed friend Eli (Chris Marquette) reveals a shocking secret: Danielle's a porn star! When her wacky producer, Kelly (Timothy Olyphant), shows up to take her back to "work," Matt's life really begins to spiral out of control. All the while, he must continue to rehearse an incredibly important speech that will hopefully earn him a major scholarship. But, most importantly, Matt must win the heart of Danielle once and for all.
Directed with irreverent yet good-natured sincerity by Luke Greenfield, with an all-star soundtrack (Marvin Gaye, Elliott Smith), THE GIRL NEXT DOOR has a breezy charm that might surprise some viewers. This is due in large part to Hirsch and Cuthbert, who deliver assured and engaging performances that help to sweeten the profane proceedings.
| Starring | Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Marquette |
|---|---|
| Director | Luke Greenfield |
| Studio | 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 45 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Rom-Coms |
| Genres | Comedy, Romance |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 09 Aug 2004 Production year: 2004 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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Appearances are deceptive in more ways than one in this boisterous comedy from The Animal director Luke Greenfield. Conceived by the writers of Van Wilder: Party Liaison, Brent Goldberg and David T Wagner, the feature plays out its first half like a hackneyed “boy meets girl” yarn, as nerdy high school over-achiever Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) falls for his gorgeous new neighbour (Elisha Cuthbert of TV's 24), only to discover she's a former porn star. It's cliché-ridden nonsense, but then in a welcome shift, teen fodder suddenly turns into Risky Business-style hilarity. As love-sick Matthew's life spirals out of control, the humour develops a sharper edge, and the deeper into disaster he gets, the funnier it becomes. By using the adult entertainment world as a source of cheeky laughs, the film-makers give the tale real colour, even if the industry mechanics they depict are more male fantasy than reality. With likeable performances adding to an overall sense of youthful vitality, the end result is an endearingly daft and airy romp.
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"...It's part RISKY BUSINESS, part WEIRD SCIENCE, part AMERICAN PIE with lots of other parts--particularly Elisha Cuthbert's..."
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Most helpful member's review
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42 out of 55 people found this review helpful
5 if Elisha was naked... she is a porn star after all.
This movie would be much better if we saw Elisha Cuthbert's naked; she IS a porn star after all. As it stands though, it is almost the definition of a three-point-five star movie. That's saying, it has everything you knew it would have, which makes it very average - but it also throws up some bizarre new twists and turns to the genre, which at least makes it slightly unpredictable. The movie was long, and could have done with some heavy editing; many scenes were just space fillers - particularly filming the imagination of the main character. In an already long movie this was unnecessary. Also the main character; Matthew, is an adolescent 'boy'. Surely they could have chosen someone who looked less like the kid from the wonder years. The belief that Elisha would enjoy the contrast between the usual porn star industry men, and this little boy was a little far fetched, and I can almost guarantee that's why it's never happed. There is nice and then there is naive - he wasn't just a contrast, he was the complete opposite -- trying to hard to be cool, he looked like an insecure little brat - a teenager, not decisively nice at all, just too insecure to argue or defend himself -- definitely too limp wristed to ever pull a post porn star and protect her from the bad porno man. Saying that, it's really Elisha Cuthbert's movie, so he's only a minor inconvenience. Reading other reviews for this movie it seems unanymous - the tag line for this movie should be, 'it's not as bad as I thought'.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
A good piece of work
If you go this with an open-mind and don't expect an American Pie-type effort you'll have a good time.
Not perfect by any means - certainly overlong at nearing two hours - and slightly episodic (you think it's about to finish when something else happens to start a whole new storyline) but other than a pretty good effort.
However, it's not an out and out comedy. Some of it is quite serious and for the blokes expecting to see lots of nudity - you're not going to get it. Plaudits have been hailed in reviews on here for the female star but Emile Hirsh does a good job in what is a big role for someone with so little film experience. He's charismatic and charming at the same time - but does look around 13. What this means is that, unlike with other teen movies, he is actually the age in real life that he is supposed to be - 17 or 18 - but we get so used to seeing teens played by 25 year olds we forget what they're meant to look like! It's a promising third movie for him, and lets hope he carries on making decent films and not slip into obscurity in the way Devon Sawa did at the end of the 1990s as the actors qualities are similar in many ways -
News and features
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Emile Hirsch discusses Speed Racer
- 23 Nov 2007
Up and coming actor Emile Hirsch has given Empire Online some titbits of information about the new movie Speed Racer, an adaptation of the 1960s anime series. The film, which tells the story of a young racing driver trying hard to stay honest in a corrupt business, also stars Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon, and is directed by the legendary Wachowski brothers - the team behind The Matrix. According to Hirsch, production of Speed Racer used "green screen" technology and absolutely... Read more
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In the tradition of RISKY BUSINESS and AMERICAN PIE comes THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, a sex-soaked teen comedy that actually has a heart. High school graduation is nearing for senior class president Matt ... -